Would the Real Villain Please Stand Up
by Miriflowers
Summary: Set after KH:3D. After throwing a mad party in Radiant Garden, one of the new Restoration Committee members stumbles upon a mysterious evil that has begun stalking our heroes for some unseen reason. All they can tell is that whoever it is wants to stir up trouble, and that it would be really, really bad if they succeeded. Like cosmically bad. Yeah that bad. T for language Riku/OC
1. Chapter 1

"So Riku was all like 'Oh my god Sora, fly the goddamn plane you frickin moron stupid face,' and I was all like 'Oh yeah? Watch this, hater,' and then I made the best turn ever and totally dodged that other thing we were going to run into but I didn't actually feel like stopping so I kept flipping the plane and making these sweet loopy things," Sora said, then paused for breath, "It's was freaking awesome. Oh yeah and Riku threw up afterwards because he's a weenie."

"Sora you lying fuck that's not how it went and you know it," Riku complained, an angry blush lightly dusting his face as he shoved his friend to try to get him to shut up.

"Haha sucker," Yuffie snickered from her perch on her chair.

"Right? That's what I said," Sora chuckled, sliding even further down in his chair, story over.

Even though the annual "We Saved the Fucking World" party was officially over, there were still a few hangers-on littering Merlin's living room. It was a Friday night, and other than the usual patrol duty that all members of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee were bound to do, nobody really had anything to do until later the next day. It was a good way to unwind and catch up on what they had missed in the last year, living on different planets and all.

"Riku I didn't take you for a weenie," Rosa teased, still resting her head on Yuffie's lap after their hardcore DDR battle a few hours before. Yuffie had won, needless to say. That woman had more energy than the fucking sun, and she burned it about as fast.

"Neither did Sora apparently," Yuffie smirked.

They high fived and collapsed into a fit of stupid laughter the kind that only makes sense after an equally stupid joke.

"Yeah Sora was too busy trying to crash the fucking plane," Riku said, "or did you guys miss that part?"

"We're out of beer and ruffles," Leon called from the next room, "also we only have like one potato chip left and it looks lonely. Does anyone wanna come to the store with me?"

"I will!" Rosa called, energy miraculously restored, "I'm always down for food, dude."

She quickly hopped off of Yuffie's lap and sped out of the room faster than you can say lonely potato chip. Yuffie shrugged and stole her forgotten drink, chugging it and going to get some more lemonade.

"Dude what's the deal with Rosa and Leon?" Sora asked curiously, almost falling out of the chair now, "Are they going out or something?"

"No," Yuffie said, deciding to pour a little bit more in after taking a sip, "but I think Rosa likes him. Which fucking sucks for her."

"Why?" Kairi asked. She had been kind of quiet the entire party, sitting in the corner and happily nursing her soda.

"Dude Leon has serious issues," Yuffie sighed, sitting down again, "Remember how he had a girl back home before it was destroyed? He never really got over that. He still thinks she's out there. And I mean, she may be, but at the same time…it's been over five years."

The room sort of fell silent except for Riku and Cid's quiet chatter in the background. Sora slid to the floor and stared at the ceiling, lost in thought.

"That sucks dude," Sora finally said.

Yuffie agreed silently, sipping her lemonade. Sora rolled over to where Kairi was sitting and they started talking to each other softly, punctuated only by the occasional giggle. Just as Yuffie felt herself getting sleepier, Cid suggested that they all watch a movie.

"What do you guys want to watch?" Sora asked, hopping up and offering a hand to Kairi.

"Anything with a lot of violence and good music," Riku said, sleepily scratching his ear and yawning, "I need to wake up."

"How about Pulp Fiction?" Cid asked gruffly, yanking the VHS out of a stack that promptly collapsed.

"Fuck. I'm gonna have to clean those up in the mornin'," Cid groaned, sticking it in the VHS player and turning on the ancient TV.

"I've never seen that before," Kairi said, and Sora proceeded to try to explain it to her before the credits ended. He didn't really do a good job, but then again it's really hard to describe that movie.

Leon and Rosa arrived about 20 minutes into the movie with about five bags of chips, and they all happily crunched their way through the movie. By the time the credits started rolling, Cid was asleep, Kairi and Sora were too busy making out to actually pay attention and Rosa was shitfaced. Seriously. She kept on giggling at literally everything. It was crazy.

"Get a room," Yuffie called to Sora and Kairi, who instead of getting offended, actually got a room. Riku wasn't sure which one he preferred.

Leon popped out the VHS after rewinding it, asking "Do you guys remember where your rooms are?"

"I do!" Rosa giggled, raising her hand.

"You live here, doofus," Leon sighed, helping her up so that she wouldn't fall over.

"I think I'm fine," Riku said, eyeing Rosa with an anxious sense of reprobation.

Everyone eventually found their way to their rooms, except for Rosa, who had to be guided. When Leon dropped her by her door she just sort of stood there smiling dopily for a minute.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" he asked, amused.

"Aren't you? Your room is down the hall dude. No one's stopping you," she pointed out, enough in control of herself to carry a conversation thank god.

"I want to make sure you don't injure yourself," he smirked, "In case you haven't noticed, you're kind of drunk."

"You sure?" she asked, hooded eyes gazing up at him as she leaned in closer, obviously expecting him to kiss her.

"100% positive," he replied coldly, stepping back, "Try not to wake up Aerith."

"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked, trying to close the gap between them again, but he kept backing up.

"You're drunk and you're trying to make a move on me, that's what," he snapped, "It's not happening."

"Why the fuck not?" Rosa nearly yelled as he tried to shush her, "You like me and I like you so give me a fucking reason, Squall."

"You know I still love Rinoa-"

"You're so fucking lame sometimes," Rosa said, cutting him off. She finally headed inside, leaving him standing awkwardly in the hall.

He stood there for a moment letting the conversation sink in. He heard quiet voices. Apparently Aerith was awake. When he heard the sobbing he finally left, hating himself more with every step. Just when he thought he had outrun his past finally, it made him do something stupid like that. He didn't sleep much that night.

The morning came without much activity. Aerith got up to make breakfast, but only a few people were awake. Lunchtime saw nearly everyone at the kitchen, however. Sora managed to stop falling asleep in his grilled cheese long enough to notice that Rosa wasn't at the table.

"She's on duty right now. She grabbed one before she left," Aerith explained, setting juice on the counter for those who wanted it.

"Where's the coffee?" Riku groaned after inhaling his entire plate in like a second.

"Shit son," Yuffie laughed, "You look like you just got run over."

"Riku's not really a morning person," Sora explained, and Kairi nodded aggressively in agreement.

"Dude it's like one what the fuck," Yuffie complained, "I've been up since eight."

Riku just stared at her in a state of sleepy confusion. After a few minutes he realized that the coffee had been right in front of him all the time. He gulped it all down even though it was really hot still, unphased.

"That was hardcore," Yuffie observed wisely, "I dare you to do it again."

Riku shrugged, starting to wake up a little bit.

"Get me more coffee, and I might."

"Deal," Yuffie said quickly, rushing to get him another. He downed that one just as quickly.

"Woahhhhh."

"This guy drinks coffee like normal people breathe air," Sora said, "Amirite, buddy?"

"Shut the fuck up Sora," Riku groaned, going to put his dishes away.

Sora started laughing uncontrollably. Yuffie observed not for the first time that their friendship was really weird.

Meanwhile, Rosa's head was still pounding from drinking the night before, and she got a really goo reminder of why she didn't drink. She wasn't patrolling like she knew she should have been, either. If he were there, Leon would have been pissed, but she decided that he couldn't be bothered with that ass tent anymore so she sat on top of one of Hollow Bastion's many rooftops skipping ceiling tiles off the side just for the heck of it. She was humming a song off of one of her favorite albums that Cid had lent her and thinking about her home world. She still didn't remember it. Most people had remembered. Even the ones with no home worlds left still remembered them. She couldn't even remember her own name. It had been something Aerith suggested when they found her in a dark alley looking blankly at the opposite wall.

"Life is weird," Rosa observed to no one.

She realized that she had run out of ceiling tiles, and suddenly felt very awkward, standing up and brushing off her butt from all the dirt and whatnot littered the roof. Deciding that walking down the stairs would be boring, she decided to Aeroga and ride it down. As she called out the spell, she felt the rush of magic in her veins and the wind in her hair. She jumped, yelling with reckless abandon and doing a few flips for shits and giggles.

She landed roughly, stumbling and nearly falling flat on her face, but she was definitely alive, laughing for all she was worth. She kept laughing even after the moment had passed and she realized she was crying. The fact didn't really bother her, though. She needed to let loose a bit. She was almost disappointed that she hadn't seen any stray heartless or random hooligans breaking shit or something. She really wanted to beat something up.

"Rosa come in," came Cid's voice from her radio, "come in."

"Cid?" she asked, pulling out her radio, "What's up? I'm just wrapping things up over at the castle. I'll be back for my shift change in a few minutes."

"Not yet. Someone reported suspicious activity over by the edge of town. They say it's urgent," Cid said without much embellishment, "Head over there immediately. Report back when it's finished."

"Rodger that," Rosa said, excited at the possibility of beating someone up but concerned as to why.

As Rosa passed the last houses on the way out to the forest that no one ever really went into because it looked scary, she began to see movement in the shadows. She drew her sword cautiously, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Hello?" she asked, not expecting a reply.

"Hello there, little one," a dark, soft voice came from behind her.

Just as she whipped around to see who it was, Rosa was enveloped in darkness and her vision blinked out. She decided she was never drinking again as she lost consciousness.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm not actually sure where I'm going with this, but I like it. I may be a little bit rusty since I haven't been writing a lot lately, so don't shoot me. Totally open to constructive criticism though. Like hella open. Also drinking is bad kids.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

"Anything I can help with, Cid?" Riku asked, strolling into the command center (AKA big ass computer) in the entrance of Merlin's house. He always wondered why it was right across from the door.

"Actually yeah," Cid grunted, printing out a map only a moment after Riku asked, "One of my operatives hasn't checked in yet. Last contact was over thirty minutes ago. It was supposed to be a simple job. I need you to be able to provide back up if necessary."

"Will do," Riku said, a determined frown forming on his face as he checked out the map, "Who was the operative?"

"Rosa," Cid said, and without skipping a beat kicked Riku out.

Riku breathed in deep, trying to get his game face on his mind was whirring with all the possibile causes for Rosa to not radio in. Maybe she lost her radio by accident and was trying to find it. Maybe the punk she was trying to catch stole the radio. Maybe it ran out of batteries and she was buying new ones.

At the same time, he was trying to figure his new friend out. He had accidentally overheard her conversation with Leon the night before. As sorry as he felt for her, she was kind of asking for it. Guys as hardheaded as Leon rarely changed their minds about anything unless confronted with something big. He also didn't think it was a good idea to lose control like that. He highly doubted that the situation would have happened had it not been for the alcohol. She had seemed like a pretty intelligent girl before the alcohol had gotten to her. Then again, she did let the alcohol get to her, so she wasn't too sure about that either.

Reaching the site Cid had marked on the map, Riku looked around only to find a whole lot of nothing. He decided to check it out a bit first before he started yelling like an idiot. He looked for a minute before finding the tracks leading from the forest. More like felt them, actually. They were drenched in the type of deep darkness that you can't erase for a while. The last time he had felt that kind of darkness was when he himself had been connected to it.

"Cid," he said into his radio, "Come in."

"What have you got for me?"

"She's not here, but I think I might have a lead," Riku said, sensing a trail leading to a big mess of darkness, which he supposed was a dark portal, "Or possibly a perp. We're going to need the whole team out here for this one, though."

"Rodger that. I'll be out there in five," Cid promised, "Cid out."

Riku shut off his radio and made his way to the portal, becoming increasingly aware that he was not alone in the small forest. Kneeling down and pretending to investigate the tracks further, he started to scope out possible hiding spots. Hearing a slight rustle behind him, he whirled around, keyblade pointed and ready.

"Woah," Rosa said, taking a step back and looking alarmed, "I didn't do anythi-"

"Shh-" Riku shushed her, trying to sense if the watcher was still there.

"What is it?" Rose whispered, eyes large. She hated the forest.

"Whatever it was, it's gone now," Riku groused, lowering his hand and letting his keyblade dissipate, "What happened? You didn't radio in, so they sent me to see what's up."

"I… I'm not sure, actually," she confessed, rubbing the back of her neck and dodging his glare, "I came here to investigate when I was attacked from behind. They got me before I could see them."

"This wasn't any simple mugging though, I take it," Riku said, eyeing the lightly festering puddle of darkness, "Did they speak?"

"Yes. She, at least I think it was a she, said 'Hello there, little one,' and covered me in darkness so thick I couldn't see or breathe. Then I passed out. I only woke up like a second ago."

"Fuck," Riku groaned, "I think I know who this is."

"Riku," Cid almost yelled, stomping up to them, "You'd better have a good fucking excuse; I thought you needed back up."

"Rosa woke up and scared away her attacker," Riku said, looking a bit intimidated, "She says she was attacked from behind by a being that wielded the darkness. There's still remnants of a dark portal left behind."

Cid said nothing, opting to angrily stare down the woods as though they had personally wronged him before turning back to Rosa and Riku.

"Any idea who it was?" he asked Rosa. Riku began to say something before Cid shushed him.

Rose shook her head, eyes down. Cid motioned for Riku to speak.

"Maleficent."

Somewhere in the darkness a deep echoing laugh could be heard, cracking and spitting like a fire before burning down and turning to silky ash.

"Bitch please, you wish it was Maleficent."

Back at Merlin's house an hour later, Rosa sat huddled in a corner swaddled in a blanket sipping hot cocoa that Aerith had kindly made for her. She was still shivering. Her friends were busy discussing plans and speculating but she felt drained and numb.

"You okay?" Riku asked, pulling a chair up and sitting backwards. He looked genuinely concerned, which surprised her. She didn't think he of all people would give a fuck what she felt.

"Not really," she chuckled tonelessly, swirling her cooling cocoa, "I feel like I was just in cryostasis for 200 years, but thank you for asking."

She smiled genuinely at him, making him smile nervously back.

"Back when I was Maleficent's bitch I felt like that all the time," he admitted, staring at a spot above her head as though determined not to look her in the face for fear of seeing himself, "It was pretty much the worst feeling ever."

"What do you mean, Maleficent's bitch?" she asked, taking another sip of her cocoa before setting it aside. She snuggled further into her blankets as though getting ready for a bedtime story.

"Dude this is a really long story, are you sure you want to hear it all?" Riku asked, tilting his head, "I'm not joking either. It could take like seven games, a manga and a light novel series to cover it all."

"Pfft that sounds oddly specific, but sure," Rosa smiled. Riku grinned back and leapt into the story of how he and his best friends saved the world once upon a time.

By the time his story was done, the sun was beginning to set, and Aerith was starting dinner. Rosa just sat there, totally engrossed as added in the bit about the test of Mastery and the seven keyblade weilders of light.

"And that's me," Riku said, slumping into the back of the chair, his chin hanging off uncomfortably.

"Shit son," Rosa said, "I knew a few things about you and Sora, but damn you guys are way cooler than I expected."

Riku shrugged.

"It sounds cool now, but I was scared out of my freaking mind the entire time. I never thought," he trailed off for a second, "I never thought I would make it."

"I'm glad you did, buddy," Rosa grinned, ruffling his hair affectionately, "And I know a few other people who would be fucking pissed if you didn't."

Sora and Kairi strolled into the kitchen, taking seats across from each other and waving. Riku waved back, then turned to Rosa.

"Ready for dinner?" he asked, standing and offering her a hand up. She grabbed her half empty mug then accepted, standing.

"I feel like I could eat like a whole herd of horses and then maybe a few ponies for dessert," she snorted, setting her cup in the sink before taking a seat.

"Same," Sora said.

"That's normal for you though," Kairi teased lightly. Riku laughed.

"Yeah dude, remember that one time you ate like five paopus by yourself because you couldn't wait to get home?" Riku asked, "I mean, you could have at least saved one to use on Kairi, but no. You decided that your stomach came first."

"Riku," Sora hissed, glancing nervously at his girlfriend, "Not now."

Riku laughed shorty, rolling his eyes at his friend's antics.

"It's your own fault, dumbass," he pointed out, "Besides, she's not even mad."

It was true. Kairi was doubled over clutching her stomach as Sora's face grew redder and redder. Even though she felt a little bit left out Rosa still smiled slightly, wondering if she had ever had best friends like this before her world was destroyed. She hoped so.

Rosa kept nodding off during dinner, but each time she would almost plant her face in her mashed potatoes, Riku would elbow her awake again. She started to get a little put out, but she didn't want to punch a guy she just met so she decided to lay off. She made it through somehow and then passed the fuck out. It was great.

* * *

><p><strong>I ship it omfg can you guys tell? Also I promise I wasn't high when I wrote this I'm just really tired.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

Weeks passed without anything very strange happening. There were only sightings here and there of dark shadows that were longer and darker than they should be. It was driving Cid insane. The previously strict but overall pretty chill super mechanic had turned into a stressed out workaholic with nothing to work on. Rosa was really worried. The dude was the only father figure she had and it sucked major balls to see him this wigged out all the time. Even when Leon took night shift he barely slept, prowling the streets in search of the mysterious foe.

"Cid," Rosa said one day as Cid sat hunched over the monitor, "You need sleep."

It had been two and a half days since he had let Leon take over long enough for him to grab a nap. The bags under his eyes were now permanently there, heavy with the burdens he seemed to be forcing himself to bear. There really wasn't any convincing evidence that this hadn't been a one-time thing. Even though they had tried telling Cid, he still wasn't convinced.

"I can sleep when I'm dead, Rose," Cid growled, glancing up from the monitor before diving right back in.

"No. You're going to be dead when you're dead, and you need sleep now or else that's going to come a lot sooner than you fucking think. There are people who care about you, y'know. And it hurts us to see you do this. So let Leon take over and sleep, okay?" her voice cracked with emotion, and she quickly cleared it, "Please."

Cid looked up, considering her. His tense shoulders slouched and rubbed his eyes. He looked ages older in the harsh light of the computer screen.

"Alright," he sighed, standing awkwardly and stretching, "Alright, but only for a few hours. I think there might be some pattern in the mysterious sightings, and I'm close to cracking it."

"Whatever you say old man," Rosa smirked, "I smashed your alarm clock and I'd like to see you try to wake up in less than 12 hours."

Cid grinned, but it looked more like a grimace. He paused only to ruffle her hair affectionately and stumble off to bed. Riku passed him on his way in.

"Finally got the old geezer to turn in?" he asked playfully.

"I heard that," called Cid, muffles through the walls.

Riku stood stalk straight and apologized immediately only to be met with distant laughter. Rosa grinned. Riku had really grown on her in the few weeks he and his friends had been staying with them. It was nice to take her mind off the fact that she had recently been attacked by a strange unknown entity after being turned down by one of her best friends.

"Has he even been making much headway?" Riku said seriously, going to get some coffee in a weak attempt to wake himself up.

Rosa shrugged and hopped up to sit at the table, legs swinging contentedly.

"Define headway," Rosa said, beginning to absently play with her hair. She was beginning to find tangles that she had thought she had gotten out that morning in her green mop. She gave up after the third tangle.

"I thought he had a lead, dude," Riku said, taking a seat in a nearby chair, "he just said he had a lead."

"He thinks that it had something to do with the time of day," Rosa confessed, looking really peeved for some reason, "also it always seems to happen when I'm out on patrol. But honestly, it happens other times too."

"Trends shouldn't be ignored," Riku pointed out, "it's not good science."

Rosa glared, saying "Nerds aren't god for science so you should stop."

"What," Riku scoffed, "I'm totally not a nerd. If anyone here is a nerd, it's you dude. Face the facts. You're projecting."

"Dude stop deflecting it's not healthy."

"No you started it."

"What the fuck we are not doing this I am a grown ass woman," Rosa complained, burying her face in her hands. She was getting redder by the second.

"Aww," Riku said, peeking under her fingers, "that's fucking adorable."

"Stahhhhp," Rosa said, covering his face instead. Riku tried to pull his face back but she kept pushing and accidentally ended up falling into his lap after he moved his head to the side. Needless to say, neither of them were really expecting that, so Riku's coffee spilled and the chair fell over. It was really messy and awkward and not at all like in movies where it's cute and there's a moment where they look each other in the eyes and kiss. Instead, Aerith of all people happened to walk in asking what the big noise had been before she noticed the awkward position they had landed in and immediately walked out again. There was a lot of flailing and rolling but eventually they got untangles and cleaned up the mess. It was really awkward though, and they were both blushing a lot.

"Well, uhh," Riku stuttered, "not that this wasn't great or anything, but I have stuff to do. In town. Right now. Alone. Later."

Rosa waved awkwardly, strained smile inching its way across her face like a small caterpillar. When he closed the door behind him, she started rapidly cursing under her breath, clutching and wringing at her hair. She needed some air, but Riku had just gone outside and it would be so awkward if she spotted him accidentally. Huffing, she stomped upstairs before remembering that Aerith was probably holed up there in their shared room, scarred for life. She slumped down into the staircase dejectedly, shutting her eyes and asking whatever higher power there was why the fuck she was born with the awkward gene.

Yuffie noticed her as she skipped down to grab some food before her shift.

"Dude, what's up?" she asked, puzzled, "You look like you need someone to talk to."

Rosa spilled everything immediately. Every agonizingly stupid detail that she was trying to bleach from her memory like a bad juice stain. From the Cid problem to the Leon problem to the shadowy unknown villain problem to the Riku problem. Also, she was now completely sure that she was getting a crush on Riku, and she was regretting it already. Crushes sucked the life out of people. Specifically her. Naturally, she avoided them like they were potholes or something.

"Dude," Yuffie breathed, "you need to go outside. C'mon. I'll skip shift and we can go do dumb girl stuff or something. It'll help take your mind off of everything. Let's go before anyone notices we're skipping."

Rosa smiled and took the hand Yuffie offered her, and they scurried out of the house undetected. Deciding that she wanted to cut her hair short again, they went to the hair salon, somewhere Rosa was pretty sure Riku wouldn't be (she wasn't completely sure though because he had really nice hair), and then went to get new hair dye. She wanted pastel purple with blue highlights this time. Happily, they holed themselves up in Yuffie's room and set to work on Rosa's now cropped hair. Luckily Yuffie talked Rosa out of getting a bowl cut. Instead, she got an asymmetrical cut with shaved temples and really, really long bangs on one side.

They finished an hour later after listening to Incubus' new album and eating too many bags of chips Yuffie had stashed everywhere. Rosa still didn't know where she kept them all or if there were more. Yuffie seemed to produce them from nowhere whenever they needed more. It was really beautiful. So was her hair, actually. Yuffie, for someone with natural hair, was actually a wizard with dyes.

"Yuffie, where-" Leon said, beginning to open the door to her room, interrupting a rock-paper-scissors duel for the last chip. He stopped abruptly when he noticed Rosa's hair.

"Why'd you do that for?" he asked, nodding to her hair, "I liked it the old way."

"And I liked you before you were a dick to me," Rosa said, shrugging, "We can't all have what we want."

Leon flushed in frustration and maybe (hopefully) shame and closed the door on his way out. Yuffie was bent over in silent laughter. Rosa felt really proud of herself. Also freer somehow. She still avoided going down to dinner because she was too shy to face Riku, though. But it was okay. She and Yuffie stayed up until the next morning sneaking snacks from downstairs and marathoning some old cartoon that Yuffie just happened to have old recordings of. They fell asleep just as the sun came peaking over the walls, throwing dark shadows on the room as they slept huddled together under a single blanket that Yuffie kept stealing in her sleep. No one noticed a dark figure stealthily make his way in, snatching the comb Yuffie had discarded after running it through Rosa's hair once, before sneaking out again.

* * *

><p><strong>SPOOPY. Who is the mysterious figure? Who is the real villain? Who knows? Probably no one actually I'm making this up as I go along tbh.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

"Morning," said Yuffie, smiling sleepily before yawning and stretching like a happy cat. Rosa rolled over and groaned. They had only been asleep for what seemed like five minutes.

"Five more hours," she said, muffled by her pillow that she was using to block out the sun's light that was spilling through the curtains like an overflowing glass. It was well past midday.

"You're not going to sleep tonight if you don't get up now," Yuffie said, lightly pulling what little blanket remained off of her. Rosa glared daggers at her through squinted eyes. Shrugging, Yuffie strolled out of the room, having changed already somehow.

"Whyyyyyyyy," Rosa groaned, falling out of bed literally. Rubbing her butt and cursing, she walked out of the room, deciding that since no one really saw her yesterday that she could wear the same clothes. She ran into Riku literally two seconds later and regretted everything. Suddenly, her pits stank and her breath reeked and her eyes felt half crusted shut.

"Uh," she said awkwardly, probably blushing like a little bitch, "hello there. Riku."

Luckily, he looked amused rather than grossed out.

"Dude you look like you just woke up," he pointed out teasingly, "Also, nice hair."

"Thanks," she said, brushing her fingers through her new cut in fresh remembrance of the day before, "And yeah, I literally just rolled out of bed. Literally."

"I wish I looked like that when I rolled out of bed," he laughed, ruffling her hair as he passed, "Stay tousled, amigo."

He proceeded to walk into the room he shared with Sora, leaving Rosa with a pleasant hum of contentment. She was pleased that he seemed to have forgotten yesterday. Or at least that he wasn't taking about it. That was good. Also, he didn't seem disgusted by the sight of her. Excellent. It seemed like she was going to have a great day. Walking down to the kitchen and being met with the smell of something sizzling, she was not disappointed.

"Aerith, have I ever told you how much I love and adore you?" she asked, walking up behind her friend and wrapping her arms around her before planting a small kiss on her cheek. She could practically feel Aerith blushing, and she laughed deviously before stealing a sausage, quickly gobbling it down, licking her burning fingers.

"Fanks," she slurred, smiling unapologetically at the harassed cook before taking a seat beside Kairi.

"Dude, you get so gay in the mornings," Yuffie complained, nibbling on her toast as she scanned the local paper. Kairi glanced sideways at Rosa before nervously scooching her chair a little away. Rosa muttered something about no one minding before burying her head in her arms and trying to grab a few more z's.

"No sleeping!" Yuffie nearly screamed, hitting Rosa on the back of the head with her rolled up newspaper.

"What the fuck, woman?" Rosa screamed back, "Can't I even have the liberty to sleep?"

"No!" Yuffie straight up said, huffing as she sat back down. She crossed her legs angrily and went back to reading her paper, looking over every once in a while to check and see if Rosa was still awake or not. Most of the time she was, but every once in a while she would start to nod off, only to be awakened by Yuffie's wrath. It was pretty hardcore.

After breakfast, which was actually lunch, but she called it breakfast anyways, Rosa left on her shift, this time accompanied by Riku, who had assigned himself as her guard apparently. Rosa didn't mind since he was funny and thought she wasn't disgusting and all. They took the waterways this time, walking slowly underneath the castle and occasionally stopping to skip loose stones. They talked a lot about Riku's adventures, their favorite bands (both of them liked Audioslave more than Soundgarden, but they still couldn't agree on their favorite Weezer album so they decided to change the subject), and their favorite TV shows.

Nothing interesting really happened, although they were both grinning like idiots as they walked back at the end of her shift. They stopped for sea salt ice cream on the way back, but it kept melting faster than they could eat it so they ended up covered in sticky blue goop that Riku kept trying to wipe on Rosa to no avail. Rosa, still feeling the emotional high off of spending so much time happy, didn't even blink when she noticed Leon glaring at them as they walked back to their rooms, still chatting comfortably. When they reached her door, they stopped, still grinning.

"Thanks," Rosa said honestly, only blushing a little bit, "that was actually the most fun I've had in a while."

"Same, actually," he admitted, doing this stupidly attractive half-grin thing.

"We should do it again," she said more quietly, taking the awkward plunge she knew she was going to take sooner or later, "Like off shift so we don't have to worry about being assaulted by heartless or something."

"How do I put this without sounding like a fucking nerd?" Riku wondered to himself, leaving her in suspense for an agonizing two seconds, "I would fucking love that, actually. Yes. Fuck yes."

She let out a breath she had been holding unintentionally. They said goodbye after that. As she shut the door behind her, she started to do this absurd little fist pump dance that looked more like she was trying to summon a demon more than anything else. She was so excited that it actually took a while for her to get to sleep. When she did, she slept like the dead.

Rosa didn't dream often, but when she did it was trippy as fuck. She felt herself aware of her dream self sprawled out limply in a soupy puddle of something she couldn't actually identify because everything was dark. She could barely breathe. The pressure or maybe the air itself was suffocating her and she felt a tremendous weight on her chest pressing her deeper down into the darkness.

"Help! Someone!" she hollered without much hope that anyone would actually hear her, but she heard a voice in the distance answering her faintly. She couldn't make out whose it was, but it was definitely male and coming closer. She stuck out a hand as far as she could, flailing around like a fish out of water. She felt someone grasp her hand and yank her up roughly. The whiplash was pretty bad, but after she got her breath back, she finally realized that he had been talking to her.

"-you okay?" he pleaded, long white hair spilling out of his dark hood, "Hello?"

She weakly thanked her faceless hero, standing on her own and clutching her left shoulder protectively. She thanked him again, coughing. She wasn't sure if she was crying or not.

"Don't thank him just yet," a dark voice said behind her, but as she whipped around to see who it was, she began to lose consciousness rapidly, "He a back stabbin' lil bitch for all you know."

Before being given any time to ponder the levity of her advice, Rosa awoke in a cold sweat absolutely livid. She didn't have bad dreams. Bad dreams were not a thing that happened to her. They did not mix. They weren't even a thing at all ever. She rolled out of bed and stalked into the kitchen, glaring down the contents of the fridge like they had killed a puppy or something equally as unforgivable.

"Looking for one of these?" Riku asked, tossing her a cold soda. Luckily, her face caught it before it hit the floor. Unfortunately, her face caught it before it hit the floor. She started cursing without any bite as she shut the fridge and popped open the drink, chugging like half of it before calming down. She suddenly realized that it was very early, and Riku was very half naked and sweaty.

"Morning runner or something?" she asked, appreciating the moment, "you're so goddamn productive it hurts to look at you."

"If it hurt you wouldn't still be lookin'," he quipped, making her eyes lurch up from their previous post inspecting his abs to his face. That bastard looked hella smug and it was pissing her off.

"Actually, it's kind of like when something really horrible happens and you can't help but stare at it because it's so terrible like you just can't look away," she muttered into her soda, glaring at him defensively.

"I think that's called a spectacle," he pointed out not-so-politely.

"Dude this still doesn't change the fact that you're being a major butthole."

"Yeah but I'm a hot butthole."

"That's gay dude."

"You're gay."

"So what."

"Oh. Cool."

* * *

><p><strong>PLOT TWIST WHAT<strong>


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